Vortex Gaming

'Diablo 4' carries a heavy burden. While no game is made lightly, Diablo 4 has a lot riding on it. From the expectations of long-time fans to the eyes of gamers ready to tear it apart, and from Blizzard trying to rise above years of misfortune to the industry watching with wary eyes, Diablo 4 is arguably the hottest potato in the gaming industry with less than a week until its official release.

It was fortunate, yet also a burden, to be able to play Diablo 4 for about 10 days in advance. As a reviewer who has analyzed numerous games, finding the right balance between praise and criticism is not easy, but not that difficult either. However, Diablo 4 was a bit different. Even after playing for 60-70 hours, I couldn't quite decide on what standard to evaluate this game.

As such, Diablo 4 is complex and full of contradictions. It's released as a complete package game but aims for live service, and while one narrative has ended, I'm curious about the narratives that will follow. It takes motifs from many game systems, making it feel like a 'familiar taste,' but adds its own seasoning to create a 'new taste,' and because I can foresee how the immediate shortcomings can be resolved, I hesitate to definitively call them flaws.

I've explained it at length, but ultimately, the reason I found it difficult to give a definitive evaluation of this game is simple. Diablo 4 is a game that can continue to change, and the evaluation at the current point and after the changes will be different. So, I decided to just do what I can. To talk about whether Diablo 4 at the time of its release is worth starting.

※ This review was written under NDA, which prohibits mentioning the narrative and main quest-related content of Diablo 4. Therefore, I would like to inform you in advance that the content related to the main quest and narrative is not included.

달라진 지향점과 새로운 재미

먼저 살펴볼 것은 '디아블로4'라는 게임의 지향점이다.

기존, 디아블로 시리즈는 RPG의 하위 장르인 '핵앤슬래시'의 대명사와 같았으며, 나아가서는 의미가 도치되어 디아블로와 비슷한 모습을 지닌 게임들이 곧 핵앤슬래시로 불리기도 했다. RPG를 구성하는 수많은 재미 요소들 중 오직 자르고 베는 것에만 집중하는 게임을 의미하던 장르명대로, 디아블로 시리즈는 수많은 악마를 때려잡고, 전리품을 수거하는 과정의 반복을 핵심으로 삼았던 게임이다. 그 외의 다른 모든 것은 결국 이를 좀 더 돋보이게 만들어주는 장치들일 뿐, 디아블로 시리즈의 핵심은 결국 악마를 쓸어버리고 새로운 무기와 갑옷을 뜯어내는 과정의 연속이었다.

However, with the fourth installment, the direction has changed somewhat. The biggest axis of change is the introduction of the 'world map.' The previous Diablo series was based on the worldview of 'Sanctuary,' but the actual appearance of this Sanctuary in the game was somewhat ambiguous. The randomly generated fields only showed visual concepts and were merely stages for slaying demons. Since it was a game aiming for 'hack and slash' anyway, nothing more was really needed.

However, Diablo 4 has greatly shifted the direction of the existing series by presenting a more concrete world map and the appearance of 'Sanctuary.' Until now, the fun of the Diablo series consisted of only two stages: hunting and looting. The repetition of the process of struggling to catch monsters and using the loot they dropped to catch monsters a little less hard is the core of the hack-and-slash genre.

However, Diablo 4 has added a new fun called 'exploration' by presenting a more concrete world here. Unlike before, Diablo 4 has various elements that gamers have to find themselves. You discover new areas and terrains, meet the residents there and experience their stories, and naturally sweep the dungeons and dens of evil in the area to learn about the world. This means that the fun of 'exploration into the unknown,' which was not seen in the Diablo series until now, has been added.

At the same time, Diablo 4 also has the genre-specific fun that previous works had, that is, the fun of sweeping away numerous demons and collecting loot. The towns and cities of Sanctuary are relatively safe, but the moment you step outside the fence, you will encounter numerous demons, bandit hordes, and monsters, and there is no room for negotiation with them. They are just monsters that you have to beat up. If the space inside the fence shows a rational Sanctuary that did not exist before, the outside of the fence brings the wilderness before the 3rd installment as it is.

Gamers will probably feel a sense of déjà vu when seeing these changes. Diablo 4's design is similar to that of 'Lost Ark' in many ways. The difference is the degree to which the center of gravity is tilted, but if Lost Ark is closer to a more general MMORPG, Diablo 4 can be seen as leaning a little more towards the past, still aiming for hack and slash.

Therefore, Diablo 4 contains more diverse stories than any previous work. The Sanctuary implemented in Diablo 4 is only a very small part of the Sanctuary in the setting, but it is still wide enough. Even after playing the game for nearly 70 hours, there were still places I hadn't been to, dungeons I hadn't cleared, and various stories I hadn't experienced.

This is also a design made possible by the narrative base of the Diablo series. In a common-sense world, the setting that daily life is maintained but the outside of the fence is close to a demonic realm seems somewhat lacking in plausibility, but it makes sense in the Diablo series. This is because Diablo 4 is set at a time when human survival is precarious, decades after the Maltiel incident in which many people died. The post-apocalyptic world concept that the village is close to a shelter and the other areas are dangerous areas gives justification to the design of Diablo 4.

Thanks to this, Diablo 4 has captured both the fun of two similar yet contrasting games. It contains all the fun of the existing series, that is, the fun of a hack-and-slash game that sweeps away monsters coolly, and the adventurous fun of RPG-like games with exploration into the unknown and new stories.

Here, I don't intend to write about trivial stories such as what the world actually looks like and what stories the side quests contain. These cute unknowns are more enjoyable when you don't know them, and I hope that gamers who explore the world of Diablo 4 for the first time can enjoy a more enjoyable adventure without prior knowledge.

In terms of evaluation, the world of Diablo 4 is wide enough and contains enough stories to be worth the money even with just one playthrough. Diablo 4 shows enough volume for the price of the game even with just one run. You can see the ending much faster if you want to do a time attack, but it doesn't really matter. Unlike the past when the proportion of side quests and collection elements was very small, Diablo 4 has various auxiliary elements with a volume as large as the main story.

And, the appearance of Sanctuary that is reflected in this way is close to the ideal appearance that Diablo series fans have been hoping for. This gothic post-apocalyptic world, which is so miserable without a single gag, depicts a darker and more desperate world than previous works, and is darkly stained with a crazy collaboration of deceptive evil and light that has lost its way. This means you don't have to worry about being too cheerful.

1~50, 50~100 완전히 달라지는 게임 디자인

However, the world of Diablo 4 may be a new fun, but it cannot be what gamers truly want. If Diablo series fans are compared to 'meat lovers,' the introduction of the world map described earlier is closer to the feeling that a charcoal grill restaurant that always served plenty of meat has changed its system to a buffet. There are definitely more things to eat than before, and there are many foods that you see for the first time, but anyway, the regulars of that restaurant are bound to look for meat. What could be more absurd than your favorite meat restaurant becoming a buffet, only to find out it's a vegan buffet?

To summarize, Diablo 4 must be a game that you can continue to play. The core of the Diablo series is to continue to challenge and become stronger, not a game that ends after you beat it once.

This is what I thought was most important even before reviewing Diablo 4, and it is probably the part that many gamers consider the most essential 'Diablo-like fun.' Diablo 3 can theoretically be played endlessly. Even if you have all the items at the highest level, you can continue to get stronger because there is a Paragon level. However, around the time the growth curve becomes gentle and close to horizontal, the gamer will let go on their own.

Of course, Diablo 4 must also be able to continue to that extent. If the game ends when you clear all the content on the map just because the world map has been introduced, it is close to not properly understanding what Diablo gamers want. For Diablo 4, 'sustainability' is not a concept that is good to have, but an essential quality that must be had. Diablo fans constantly want to catch stronger demons and get stronger loot. And, Diablo 4 clearly has this continuous growth process that is close to a mountaineer's climb.

Diablo 4's climbing system is divided into two stages. From level 1 to 50, and from 50 to 100 based on level, but in fact, level 1 to 50 should be seen as close to a tutorial. Here, gamers can explore the world, clear various side quests, build fame, clear world events and Tree of Whispers quests, and try out various builds of their character.

From experience, it takes about 40 hours to reach level 50, and in the process, gamers acquire various legendary items and test builds based on them. I chose Druid as my character for the review, and I reset the skill tree more than twenty times from 1 to 50 to try out various builds. In fact, this period is necessary for gamers to become familiar with the character.

When you reach level 50 and clear the first promotion dungeon, the third level of difficulty, 'Nightmare,' is unlocked, and you enter the full-fledged climbing stage. From this point on, Nightmare Dungeons are activated, the Paragon Board is opened, and you start to think about build optimization. As the hunting difficulty increases rapidly, you feel a sense of crisis that you can no longer climb higher by just doing it 'moderately'.

From this point on, the main content is not side quests, exploration, or stronghold recapture, but endless farming through Nightmare Dungeons and the Tree of Whispers, and steady growth by playing build optimization, Helltide, PVP content, etc., considering the Paragon Board and legendary items. Until you reach level 70 and unlock the 4th level of Torment difficulty and approach the content corresponding to the 'final boss' that Blizzard mentioned, the direction of the game takes on a form very similar to the previous Diablo series.

To summarize, Diablo 4 is divided into somewhat clear sections of 1-50 and 50-100, with 1-50 showing the new charm of Diablo 4 that was not seen in the previous series, and 50-100 showing a somewhat familiar appearance similar to the existing Diablo series.

I was also able to understand the confidence that Blizzard had and the somewhat disappointing and contradictory reactions of gamers after playing Diablo after 50. The 1-25 section that gamers could play at the beta stage is just a taste of the world map and RPG elements newly introduced to Diablo 4, and the point at which the 'Diablo-like' section actually begins is from level 50. For example, in Diablo 3, the 1-50 section is close to the leveling section where you reach level 70 with a new character. Unlike that, which has become a boring period as the seasons have repeated, it has become impossible to just skip it roughly due to the introduction of account-shared fame systems, etc.

Of course, what the gamer has to do does not fundamentally change. From 1 to 100, gamers always have to clear dungeons, catch monsters, and filter out useful items from the acquired loot to build a build. However, even when doing the same thing, the fun you are aiming for is different.

From 1 to 50, gamers explore the unknown as Blizzard intended. In this section where leveling up is relatively fast, gamers try out new skills, match them with legendary options, enjoy content that didn't exist before, and explore the world. And, gamers who have sufficiently explored the world of Diablo 4 after level 50 analyze the Paragon Board and think about how to get stronger most efficiently, and lay out the Codex of Power and the items they have acquired to contemplate what can sweep away enemies more effectively.

Both of these processes were very enjoyable and provided a game experience that was new yet familiar at the same time. After level 50, the experience required increased significantly compared to the time allowed for the review, so leveling up became very slow, making it difficult to reach the very late-game content or final stage after level 70. However, even this was definitely a better experience than the three-track cycle of Greater Rifts, Normal Rifts, and Bounties in the 3rd installment.

After playing the beta version, the part I was most worried about for Diablo 4 was 'Can I play this game for a long time?' and I got my own answer to this concern.

예상되고 보이지만, 해결 가능한 아쉬움들

Nevertheless, just as a perfect game cannot exist, Diablo 4 has some disappointing points and questions. The most certain and blatant part is that the difference in fun between each class is extreme. What needs to be made clear here is the difference in 'fun,' not 'performance'.

While conducting three beta tests up to the Server Slam test, numerous debates arose in each community regarding the balance of each job. The general consensus was probably that Barbarians and Druids were relatively weak, and the remaining three characters showed strong performances. The reason I decided to use Druid as my character for the review was also due to this community opinion. I thought I could see the bottom of this game by experiencing the game with the weakest character.

And, in reality, there is a distinction between classes. In terms of 'fun' rather than performance. I didn't feel it because I hadn't raised a Druid during the beta period, but in reality, Druids were somewhat less fun than other jobs in the 1-50 leveling process.

The fun in hack-and-slash games like Diablo is quite simple. Visual and auditory impact are also important, but ultimately, it's over if you can catch monsters well without being annoying. Druids were able to play quite stably, but on the other hand, they were slow and simple. In the end, they catch them, but should I say that they lack excitement and exhilaration?

Of course, it's a comparative story. While playing Druid, there was no enemy that I thought I 'couldn't catch' during the 1-50 section. This means that there is no problem in terms of performance. However, the whole process took too long compared to other characters of similar level, and it was boring because there was little visual impact. The Barbarian I raised just in case was not much different either. Compared to the other three jobs, there was definitely something noticeably lacking.

It will definitely be different when you reach the growth and end stages from 50 to 100. Blizzard has publicly stated that Barbarians will show the strongest performance in the very late game, and this can be confirmed in the game. Barbarians, who wear two two-handed weapons with stats twice that of one-handed weapons and equip two more one-handed weapons to receive plenty of legendary options, will definitely show a very strong performance in the late game.

However, the 1-50 section that you have to endure this boredom is not exactly short. Enduring the boredom of the early stages for the sake of future strength seems like a reasonable hardship at first glance, but as a game, it's a much better experience to just have fun from beginning to end. If the Codex of Power is sufficiently analyzed a few months after release, it will be possible to secure essential legendary options from the beginning and level up more efficiently and fun than now.

And, the fact that this 1-50 section is by no means short raises another question about the structure. As I said in the first part, the world of Diablo 4 is by no means small, and there are numerous dungeons and side quests. Dungeons can be played repeatedly, but side quests are content that you don't really have any reason to do after playing them a few times. However, the season that repeats every three months is a hard reset, so everything except the Lilith Altar is reset. This means that side quests and exploration will also be repeated every three months.

Exploration content is definitely a fun element, but it's most fun when it's hidden in the unknown. Repeating it two or three times can be done with a smile, but if nothing changes even after 1 year or 2 years, the fame-building work at the beginning of the season may just remain a boring homework for gamers.

In this process, it is also somewhat questionable to distinguish between core skills, basic skills, and ultimate skills. The role groups of skills were also distinguished in Diablo 3, but in fact, it didn't mean much, but in this work, some coercion has been created by requiring you to consume a certain number of points in the skill tree to select the next skill group.

Because of this, unless you design it in advance, you will end up building an early build in the form of selecting one each of basic skills, core skills, defensive skills, and ultimate skills, and this is also not as free as you might think due to the 'keywords' that exist in the skill tree. This is because it is much easier to design a build around these keywords in order to utilize synergy, as some skills are grouped together as 'keywords' for each build.

For example, 'Fortify' is an important key to building a bear Druid, 'Poison' is an important key to building a wolf Druid, and 'Vulnerable' is an important key to building a lightning Druid. Barbarians also have keywords centered around 'Bleeding', and Sorcerers also have good keyword synergies that require the use of skills of the same attribute, such as 'Crackling Energy' that is only attached to lightning skills, or Chill and Freeze that are attached to cold skills. Even when you reach the Paragon Board in the late game, skill synergies are tied together in the same way.

As a result, Diablo 4 allows for various builds, but the build composition is not as free as you might imagine. As the developers said that they have prepared builds to satisfy the fantasies of various gamers in Diablo 4, there is no shortage of realizing various fantasies, but there is some limitation to exceptions.

However, it is difficult to lump all of this into 'disadvantages' and write it as an item in 'Reasons why Diablo 4 is a bad game'. In order for these parts to become real disadvantages, the condition that 'Blizzard neglects this for a long time' is required. The fact that fame, side quests, and stronghold recapture are not suitable for repeated content can be sufficiently resolved depending on how the update is done. Even now, if you clear the main quest, you can skip the main quest for the characters you create later. Blizzard, which shows a clear user-friendly appearance regarding Diablo 4, will not ignore this when they receive feedback on this.

The difference in fun between jobs and balance issues are also inevitable genetic diseases that cannot exist in this type of game. This can also be sufficiently changed depending on how the update is done in the future, and the problem that skills are somewhat standardized can also be compensated for by adding new skills or legendary items. The gem bag was a bit annoying, but since this is also a situation where feedback has been received, there will be a way out somehow.

Other than that, Diablo 4 does not have optimization problems, graphics issues, or bug problems that are often pointed out as disadvantages of new games. Stuttering occurs due to object loading when moving to a new area, but this is an unavoidable problem in seamless world implementation, and the frame rate does not drop even in complex combat situations after stuttering occurs. The graphics are not lacking even though most of the narrative production in the game is in-game rendering that is processed by simply turning the camera as it is, rather than pre-rendered cinematics, and the BGM is so wonderful that it is mesmerizing.

To summarize, Diablo 4's 'disadvantages' clearly exist at the current point, but they are very temporary, and depending on how Blizzard thinks about them, they can either last longer and become a serious problem, or they can become no problem at all. The review is saying 'disadvantage' for now because the experience version is clear, but I don't think this problem will hold the game back later.

지금으로도 합격, 미래는 더 밝아 보인다

During the years of waiting for Diablo 4, the user community has always shown both expectations and concerns each time a system was revealed. Reporters and industry officials also had many conversations each time new information about Diablo 4 was revealed, but in reality, the part I was most concerned about as a fan was 'maintaining identity'.

Diablo 4 is a work built on the huge legacy of the Diablo series that has been built up for nearly 30 years, but it is not a conservative game. You can feel that they have learned a lot from the good points of other games that have grown up watching their foundation of legacy, and they did not hesitate to solve this with their own interpretation. The world design that reminds you of Lost Ark, the Paragon Board and Nightmare Sigil that have similar systems to POE, and the Tree of Whispers that resembles the Bounty Hunting of the previous work clearly seem to have the same roots, but they have been refined to suit the new work Diablo 4.

In this process, I was worried that the unique identity that the Diablo series has maintained would be shaken, and this concern remained even after several beta tests, but I was able to dilute it to some extent in the process of preparing the review. 'Diablo 4' is a very different and advanced game from the previous series, but at the same time, it has a good 'Diablo-ness'.

A few months ago, there was controversy when the package price of Diablo 4 was revealed. It was discounted from the initially revealed price, but it is still expensive compared to general AAA-class games. If you just ask me as a gamer if it's worth paying this money to buy the game, I would say it's worth it. The general price of AAA-class games is in the 70,000 won range these days, and you usually play for about 40 hours if you play for a long time.

Diablo 4 is a little more expensive than that, but I have already played it quite enjoyably for more than 70 hours, and there is still so much game content that I have not experienced. The 'new fun' based on the world map was perfect, and the existing 'Diablo-ness' left a slight regret that there was a high possibility of build standardization, but I still highly evaluate it for giving me interesting things to think about with the introduction of the Paragon Board.

My personal regret is the narrative part. I can't mention specific stories about the narrative, but it wasn't a very satisfactory story. The narrative also has the possibility of expansion through future expansion packs, etc., and the game Diablo 4 itself seems to have been designed to be very easy to attach DLCs as if it was designed with overall expandability in mind, but the narrative was the most disappointing part of the game in the main story. This also comes across as bigger because it is a part that cannot be fundamentally resolved even with future updates.

However, as the Diablo series has always been, the narrative is not a very important part of the game. It could be a fatal problem if it were a story-driven game like 'The Last of Us' or 'God of War', but in the first place, Diablo fans are people who prefer to kill one more demon and loot it rather than read the story, and they are close to combat fanatics who hope that peace will not come to the world (because there will be no more demons), so I don't think that a somewhat unsatisfactory narrative will function as an important factor that determines the success or failure of the game.

The score for Diablo 4 was determined in consideration of these points. Near-perfect workmanship and a new yet sufficiently rich experience. And, while it still retains the fun of Diablo, the somewhat disappointing balance of fun between jobs and concerns about build standardization added a slight deduction, and overall, I gave half the points to the narrative, which has disappointing but also excellent parts. The current advantages may become disadvantages as the service continues and the seasons repeat, or vice versa, but even if you only judge the release version, Diablo 4 is a game that is worth playing.

9.0

Diablo 4

Diavlo IV

• 자연스럽게 접목된 광대한 오픈월드
• 잃지 않고 유지한 '디아블로다움'
• 약속된 사후관리와 훌륭한 확장성

• 획일화되기 쉬워 보이는 스킬트리
• 불균형한 직업 간 재미 밸런스
• 아직 완전히 정리되지 않은 편의기능

리뷰 플랫폼: PC(얼리 리뷰)

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웹진 인벤정재훈 기자
2023-05-31